All posts tagged IMAX

The first time I saw Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was about ten years ago on a computer screen across the room. Though I was intrigued, it was late and collectively, my husband and I slept through half the movie. Disappointing, I know. However, a few weeks ago, my brother gave me a wonderful birthday gift: the chance to see this great film the best way possible, in 70 mm IMAX. It was a beautiful, immersive experience that blew me away and made me truly appreciate this amazing science fiction classic.

Sometimes even after seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey people have trouble putting into words what exactly this film is about. It’s not the sort of film that focuses on a tangible story, but more of a medication of linking images that connect to show the human race advancing thanks to some help from mysterious beings across the universe. That’s how I interpret it anyway, but let me try to plot out a plot.

The film starts with ancient man still as primitive apes, in such detailed ape costumes that should make Planet of the Apes jealous. A mysterious black monolith appears, catches the ape men’s attention and I believe gives them an evolutionary push to begin using tools. A bone is tossed into the air and suddenly we see a space transport. It’s now 2001 and humans have invented space travel and evolved pretty much as far as they can with their tools. Then a second monolith is discovered buried on the moon. It’s connecting to a signal out around Jupiter. Then we’re on a mission to Jupiter, with a crew of five humans and one super computer, HAL 9000. Any real film fan knows HAL causes trouble and the crew’s lone survivor, Dave (Keir Dullea) travels beyond the infinite.

By the end of the film, we’re left more questions than answers. Who brought the monoliths to Earth and the moon? Why does it make such an ear-piercing noise? Does HAL want to prevent humans from reaching the next monolith? Where exactly did Dave go? What’s up with the space baby? I don’t know if there are any concrete answers, and that’s fine by me. I feel that this film is supposed to make us feel a bit uneasy, question our existence and what’s beyond everything we know.

What makes this film so amazing is the spectacular visuals. The Earth, moon and Sun align with the triumphantly iconic opening music. An ape smashes sun bleached bones that fly into a dazzling blue sky. The bone white spaceships move gracefully along a background of stars. We see huge, spinning space stations and spacecraft moving together in a mesmerizing cosmic ballet. Inside the spacecrafts, people move in precise, gravity defying ways that boggle the mind. HAL’s menacing red eye is ever-watching. Traveling beyond the infinite is a technicolor ride that I had me holding onto my seat in Indiana’s largest IMAX theater.

There’s never been such a beautiful blend of mystery, technology, triumph and wonder like 2001: A Space Odyssey and I doubt there ever could be again. The images Kubrick captured could never feel as authentic in today’s CGI film world and a film that contains so little dialogue would be hard for a 21st century audience to connect with. It’s hard to believe the only Oscar this film won was for best special effects (obviously). But much like Kubrick, this film was so ambitious it can be too much for some to appreciate. To each their own. It was such a pleasure to enjoy this film during its 50th anniversary run in IMAX; the large format is incredibly immersive and moving.

Christopher Nolan’s newest film, Dunkirk, is a war film like no other. Personally, I made sure to see this film in a 70mm IMAX cinema and I highly recommend doing so. For many film fans, it is an experience not to be missed.

Enemy Germans surround Dunkirk and are closing in. All the British troops have been driven onto the beach, waiting for ships to take them home, just across the channel. Overhead, German planes make bombing runs, taking out ships carrying wounded home and scattering men on the beach. Only a few daring British pilots are taking the planes down, one by one. And across the channel, British civilians are bringing their own boats to rescue the troops and bring them home.

The writing in this film is incredibly sleek and spartan. There is no side plot about bringing a certain boy home, no flashbacks to ladies who send love, no bootcamp comradery to bring these boys together. Unless you pay very close attention, you hardly catch any names of these characters. The story is simply what we see: Men waiting for boats. Men waiting for the tide. Pilots chasing down the enemy. An old man and boys venturing across the channel to help. Dunkirk focuses on two crucial elements: time and survival. We are simply put right into the action.

The camera’s point of view often feels like we are alongside the men we see. This is especially intense below deck when a torpedo strikes, on deck as a ship capsizes, and underwater as all hell is breaking loose above. The aerial views are both beautifully serine and intense, many of them filling the full IMAX screen. The images throughout the film do not feel sensationalized, or emotionally pulled toward a certain character, but focused on portraying this intense moment in history in an honest, frank but respectful manner. There is also no images of enemy Germans, which can make them all the more terrifying.

The level of suspense Nolan has created in Dunkirk can rival Hitchcock. Young men carrying a wounded man on a stretcher run down the crowded pier, trying to make it to the boat on time as enemy planes make a run overhead. The eagle-eyed pilot (Tom Hardy) has a broken gas gauge, can he take down the next plane before fuel runs out? Men wait for the tide inside a grounded ship, then Germans start using it for target practice. Will it still float? Can they even risk escape? And the waiting game for the thousands of men on the beach, with that ticking and pulsing soundtrack, can drive a man mad. The whole film is incredibly tense and doesn’t let up until the end.

I expect Dunkirk to receive quite a few Oscar nominations in the coming season. Right now I’d bet that it can easily take both sound categories. The sound effects were amazing and some of the noises left me rattled. Cinematography and visual effects seem very likely nominations as well, especially with the great and daring uses of the IMAX cameras. And depending on the competition, there is a good chance Nolan could get a directing nomination. I hope to see Dunkirk nominated for Best Picture. It’s truly a great film.

In the summer of 2000, I was one of the few teenagers begging their parents to see Fantasia 2000 in IMAX. The begging worked. My whole family went to see 70 minutes of top-notch Disney animation set to instrumental pieces, like I had dreamed of for years. My younger siblings seemed happy enough with the outing. During the film, I was in awe and soaked up every image and note. But after watching the original Fantasia for nearly fifteen years, I felt slightly let down a while after leaving the theater.

You see, the original Fantasia from 1940 was a visual masterpiece, but a financial flop. However, give anything with the name Disney on it 60 years to ripen and it can get a sequel. With IMAX and digital animation being the new big things, 2000 was a perfect time for Disney to finally get around to continuing Fantasia like it was intended to be. However, most modern film goers would not be happy sitting through half an hour of an animated version of the Earth’s evolution set to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. As a result, the seven new shorts that comprise Fantasia 2000 are shorter, snappier and a bit less ambitious, in my opinion.

The film starts with its most abstract short, set to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. It’s a colorful and energetic piece to set a tone for the rest of the film. Then the film turns to its most surreal movement with Respighi’s Pines of Rome, where digital whales embark on an adventure in the aurora filled skies. The film then turns jazzy with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, depicting stylized New Yorkers, designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. Next we see the story of The Steadfast Tin Soldier set to Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, the film’s most impressive use of digital animation. Then we get a cute 90 second segment of Carnival of the Animals with a yo-yo flinging flamingo. Next, as originally intended, we revisit a piece from the original Fantasia, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, starring Mickey Mouse. Then a Donald Duck helps tell the tale of Noah’s Ark set to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance, a sure crowd pleaser for those who need something more familiar. And the film ends on on a wonderful high note, Stravinsky’s TheFirebird with a beautiful depiction of nature’s ability to carry on through the fire.

I have a fun memory from seeing Fantasia 2000 in theaters as a teen, besides my mom falling asleep during Pines of Rome. During The Firebird, just after the lava-volcano-firebird destroys the forest, engulfs the poor little sprite and the screen cuts to black on a murderous note, a little boy somewhere in the theater shouted, “Wow! That was wonderful!” My family and I couldn’t help but laugh. Sure, he kind of ruined the somber moment in the movie, but to hear someone so young so moved by this film was one of the most fulfilling moments in my time going to movies. And even with that funny memory in my head, I’m still brought to tears by The Firebird segment nearly every time I watch it. The music combined with the beautiful animation just gets to me.

Fantasia 2000 does not forget its humble roots. Deems Taylor’s introduction is used as the orchestra warms up. Images throughout some of the shorts feel like descendants of their predecessors. The clouds and beams of light in Symphony Number 5 are reminders of the opening movement in the original, Toccata and Fugue. The Firebird number contains a menace lurking in a mountain, just as Night on Bald Mountain. And both end on an uplifting note of life anew.

I applaud Disney’s team of animators and idealists for bringing back Fantasia. Unfortunately, I doubt there will be a third film, as much as I may wish for it. I am one of the few that love this sort of filmmaking. But I’m happy that I was around for the last hurrah. I may have been the happiest teenager who got to see this in an IMAX theater. Today I own this film on Blu-Ray, and regularly use it to lull my son to sleep. Pines of Rome usually gets his eyes drooping every time. And if he’s still awake during Carnival of the Animals, we can’t help but dance together.

“What would happen if you gave a yo-yo to a flock of flamingos? ….Who wrote this?”